[Mirkle]

hello all... so i dont have enough money yet for a RO system, i just started my first SW tank.. and i needed to get a couple of gallons of water to top it oss so i bought a few gallons of distilled water. I check the parameters of the distilled water and it is as follows:

PH - its a light goldish color not even on my chart somewhere below 7.4
Ammonia - 0
Alk - 0
Nitrite - somewhere between 0.5 -0.1
Nitrate - 0

Is this stuff ok to use in my tank??

[NATIVEVAMAN]

First of all congratulations on being smart enough to test it.Everything looks normal with the acception of those nitrates.Are you sure the test kit is working properly?

[Mirkle]

TY

im pretty sure its working ok.. its the Marine Lab by Red Sea

[gramesy777]

r/o units arent that expensive and you will pay like crazy to keep buying distilled. Thats what i did for a little while and then invested in an r/o.

[Waterlogged]

You can get a ro/di unit for $100.00.

[Mirkle]

how many gallons do the cartridges take b4 you have to change them? i might by one.

[pogodzib]

I change out my sediment and carbon block cartridges fairly often with my unit, but they are cheap. The RO membrane should last a couple years, and if the RO membrane has a good rejection rate, the DI resin will last for months between changes.

[reefnoob1991]

My RO system the Mighty Mite was 75$ and is 75 GPD, but can get up to about 90 GPD...it says it needs to be replaced about every 1500-2000 gallons

[Barry69]

Do you have a Super Wal Mart? Ours all have a Culligan water dispenser. Carbon Filter, then RO, then UV...after your initial purchase with the container, the water is only 33 cents per gallon.

[reefnoob1991]

Start adding it up,very soon you'll see that the water you have to pay for at the store plus gas costs much more than an RO/DI system

[Mirkle]

what about all the waste water at the end of the year that might be about 1600 gallons of waste water for a 55 gal tank.. that sound right?

[reefnoob1991]

It takes about 4 gallons of regular water to make up 1 gallon of RO, depending on where you live...and tap water is 3 cents or less a gallon

[NATIVEVAMAN]

Perhaps its not the 3 cents per gallon that some object to but the waste of 200 gallons of water to fill a 50 gallon tank one time.

[reefnoob1991]

The water can be used to water plants, wash clothes, etc.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

In a hobby that is not very enviornmentaly friendly it might be a good idea to start thinking green whenever we can by not wasting water on ro/di units and electricity on metal halide bulbs.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

Poly-Bio-Marine
Here is a system that will make 20 gallons of good clean water a minute with no waste.

[reefnoob1991]

Over $350+ for a 300 GPD system...but I looked on some of the tests and it seemed to only reduce copper by 47%

[NATIVEVAMAN]

I guess the facts that it works at normal cold water temperatures and at 30 to 40 psi counts for nothing.Copper is not present in the water until it enters the home and only by way of old plumbing.The 47% copper removal rate takes it far below toxic levels.And lets not forget the fact that it will clean 5,000 gallons of water before a media change is required.Its performance might be matched by a 5 stage ro/di unit which will cost more than 350$'s.And all this with 0% water waste?Put it this way,to make 5,000 gallons of ro/di water you will have 15,000 to 20,000 gallons of waste water.By your own estimates that would save 600$'s before the first media change.Without the need for a membrane the cost of media change's will be substantialy less.Whats not to love.

[Gieke]

I completely agree with native on this one. I am willing to pay the extra money to not waste the water. And use t5's to help conserve electricity. If I owned the building I live in it would be completely solar. I also think its important to ask your distributor when buying liverock and livesand where and how it was collected.

If we fail to look at those things this hobby will become illegal. There is already legislation in a few states to make it so. Also consider buying aquacultered fish and corals when stocking your tank. Always ask before buying, its the moral and ethical thing to do.

[Gieke]

no response to that? someone has to agree, atleast I hope someone does.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

Gieke you know I agree.